Has any talked to you about your promotion record?

Has anyone really sat down and explained how as a board member they look at a record? I am sure
there are plenty of CSMs out there that have, but if not I am going to describe what I thought about a record. I am going to explain what I used for criteria when looking at records. Contrary to popular belief, there is very minimal board guidance given other than what is in DA PAM 600-25. (if you haven’t looked at DA PAM 600-25 you are already wrong) The criteria I looked for came from what I thought was important for the next level of responsibility. I have shared this with members of my unit as they prepared their records for validation as these are the things that are important to me, besides what DA
PAM 600-25 states. I am NOT stating that all panel members vote a record this way or taking away from what a mentor or chain of command has already told you!!!

This is just general knowledge from my point of view.

1. If you have an AR-15, GOMOR, or LOR in your official OMPF the board members will see it and it could be factored into your vote. Used to be that a board member did not get to look at restricted files, but this has changed for the FY14 SFC board.

2. First thing I looked at was your DA Photo; do you look like a Soldier in uniform? Are all your accouterments worn correctly and by precedence? Can I see your overseas service bars? Are you at the proper position of attention?

a. If you wear a mustache ensure it is worn correctly!! A mustache didn't factor into my vote unless it was out
of regulation, however, some other board members did not like mustaches and that could have affected their score.

b. Ensure your photo is up to date and within a year of your board (my preference). Regardless of regulation
(5yrs, SSG, or ARCOM or higher), get a photo every time you are considered for promotion.

c. Go get your photo in ASU’s. I know the wear out date is still valid, but seriously you might not be considered highly if you are still wearing greens.

d. Are you at the proper position of attention? Is your hair within regulation? I shouldn’t be able to see your fingernails except for your thumb when at the position of attention, if you are wearing nail polish (females) ensure it's within regulation.

3. Next I looked at your ERB and I looked at seven different areas:

a. OS/Deployment Combat Duty; I looked to see how many deployments you have been on and if you are wearing the correct number of overseas bars based on the one for every six months rule. (If I had to guess to ensure you had the right amount you are making me dig) Don't make anything on your record!!!

b. SQI/ASI; what have you done that your peers haven't? Recruiter, Drill Sergeant, AIT PSG, Instructor, etc. Also what schools have you been to master your profession or the duty assignment you are currently in or have been in? Are you marketable to another organization?

c. Military Education; I looked to see what other training you have attended and if you distanced yourself from your peers as far as achievements. (commandants list, honor graduate, etc.)

d. I also looked to see if you were working on correspondence courses; how are you developing yourself professionally?

e. Civilian Education; Have you started college, do you have a degree? (I looked at this hard and if I saw a zero in college it made me question why?)

f. Awards and Decorations; as a SSG I expect you to have earned at least an ARCOM. If you have anything higher than that was a plus. I also went back to your photo to see if it all matched. (don't make me dig into your file if I don't have too).

g. Assignment Information; I looked to see if your assignment information was clean, not having any erroneous duty positions or multiple same assignments. Did not want to see incoming or known losses in this area. Also wanted to see all your times in a combat zone identified in parentheses as (IZ/AF or others FWD) and that it matched your OS/Deployment Combat Duty info.

4. NCOERS; I looked to see if I could establish consistency in 24 months. If that was done with two annuals then I didn't look anymore. If that took five NCOERs than I continued to look. I wanted to see 24 months of consistency for your performance and potential. This is what I looked for:

a. How long was the rated period?

b. What was the level of experience of your rating chain?

c. What was your duty position?

d. What was the skill grade required for that duty position?

e. Did you have any NOs under values?

f. I did not care about how many excellent blocks you had and to be honest I was more interested in your success bullets. Why did you achieve a success rating? I did read all the bullets, but it held very little weight to me. I was looking for quantifiable information to prove them worthy of an excellence.

g. I focused the weight of my vote on part V. Did the rater and Senior Rater block you and did it send a consistent message? What was the strong words the Senior rater said about you? Promote now, ahead of peers, etc… Send to school now, immediately, etc. Performance and Potential and how you did it, I especially liked when a SR used a number system, 1 of 15 NCOs that I rate, top 2% of NCOs in the entire BDE, etc… Again, I am only looking to establish 24 months of consistency.

This is just a quick reference to see how I would have developed criteria to vote a record. This doesn’t mean everyone does it this way, this was only my criteria.